DThe rush hour traffic was fatal for the victims. In a traffic jam in front of a checkpoint east of Jerusalem, three armed Palestinians opened fire on inmates on Thursday morning. Many of them were probably residents of the large settlement of Maale Adumim on the way to Jerusalem. A video shows people running down the street in panic. A 26-year-old Israeli died at the scene. Eleven others were wounded, some seriously, including a pregnant woman. Security forces and armed civilians returned fire. Two of the assassins were killed and the third was seriously wounded while escaping. According to Israeli intelligence, they were two brothers, aged 31 and 26, and another 31-year-old man, all from the Bethlehem area. They had automatic weapons with them. The brothers' father and several other people were arrested.
The incident highlights the fact that, beyond the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, the situation in the West Bank also remains unsettled. On the one hand, the Israeli army is marching into cities even more often than before, which often results in fatalities. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and thousands arrested since October 7th. In addition, radical settlers repeatedly attack Palestinian villages, devastate fields, and set cars and houses on fire. The United States and other countries have now begun to impose sanctions on individual settlers.
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